Iranian of the Day

Football Stars

Didn't these mullahs fight the Shah and his regime for the same reasons, free press, freedom of speech, etc, they are denying our people and our beloved country?
These young men make me proud to call myself Iranian, despite the fact that Ahmadinejad and his thugs have ruined our good name.
May God Bless Iran.

Actually they weren't

This is nothing but a shameless lie. Afshin Qotbi said in an interview with the New York Times that no player was retired for political reasons. In response to a letter to FIFA, the Iranian Football Federation clearly stated such a rumor is not true. Mahdavikia and Karimi had said from before that they would retire after the WC. Hashemian and Kaabi are still on the team. This is yet another example of media propaganda meant to lead the masses against the Iranian Government. Go do research before you start making emotional responses to everything

FIFA should overthrow the Mullahs,,

IFF: No players punished
Iran Football Federation President Ali Kafashian ruled out reports that the four national team players have been punished for wearing green wristbands to show their support for defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.

FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, said Friday it received a letter from the Iranian federation which stated that “No disciplinary action has been imposed on any players of the Iran national team by any authority.”

“IFF has not punished any players up to now, but the issue is under scrutiny. If it is confirmed that they wore green wristbands as a political action, we will punish them according to FIFA rules,” Kafashian said.

Complain to FIFA!

I am not a great fan of team Melli (mostly because they are crap and almost always disappointing) and some of these players who have been "retired" have been the cause of this "crappiness".

However, just to stick one into this regime's butt, I think we should  use the principles of FIFA which insist on separation of politics and sports (well I know, these players were too making a political statement by wearing the green armbands but let's say they did that for humanitarian reasons and not political) against this regime.

Yes, we should write emails to FIFA and ask them to punish the mullahs for interfering in the running of the team Melli.

As punishement FIFA should, for example, make Khamenei and Ahmadinejad stand between the goal posts in turn and each save 10 penalties taken by none other than Roberto Carlos (for those who do not know this guy (where have you been by the way) I can tell you that after the first few penalties we would not have a "supreme leader" and a"president" in Iran anymore). 

I personally think this a a very fair punishment and Mahmoud Kootoleh gets to meet one of football's legends, a game he loves so much. What do you say?

A Show of Solidarity

This coming Sunday the US national team will be playing in the final game of the Confederation Cup (against Brasil or S. Africa, 11:30 am, PST, ESPN). Below is a link to the US Soccer Federation. Please take a moment and provide your ideas about how the US team, and the Iranian-American soccer fans can support the sacrifices of the Iranian soccer players and the Iranian nation; a moment of silence for Neda, or a green wristband worn by the US team are among the ideas.

//www.ussoccer.com/contact/index.jsp_Y.html

I salute them

They knew the risk involved and accepted it with open eyes, open arms and wholeheartedly. Isn't this the definition of "courage"?

Shirazie

Kaabi would never do it because he is a true Iranian like all Iranians living in Khozestan province. During the 8 year war with Iraq they have shown to all Iranians who are the real patriotic Iranians. Kaabi is our boy, the son of Iran and he played in all soccer games with Iranian national pride, Az del o joon.

F@#$ the World Cup

They inpired millions, brought tears to everyones eyes. Dameshoon garm.

BEST OF LUCK???? That's it???

How about some of you rich Iranian businessmen offering them a position in your businesses?

Iranians never take care of their own, hardly even within their own families--hardly.

This kind of trait is a big setback for our great culture.

We need to trust and love each other as IRANIANS more.

Proud of you

Proud of you, boys! Gestures like this are the ones that give others the courage to stand up as well.

Best of luck to all of you! You've done your people proud!

Chella posht saleh man haalf

Chella posht saleh man haalf mizanin.eay Asal-B va Mr Anonymous.Aslan man daste chap o lastam la baladam ke besham daste laste khamenehee.

very proud of hte boys but

very proud of hte boys but what about Javad Nekounam? he was wearing a green wrist-band too if I remember correctly

Assal-B

Great Iranian sportmen? A great sport man never sit next to a blood-thirsty Mullah. Do you remember Parvis Geeleech-khanee? Do you know what he did to show his disagreement with killing machine of the Shah? He was a great sportman not Ali Daei or those in the video clip. They are called "Dastmal bh dast". If Ali Daei along with 3 other sitting next to Mullah are the great iranian sportmen then what we should call those sportmen(Karimie, Mahdavikia.....) who risked their lives and supported Iranian people?

Parvande-saazi? Give yourself a little bit time then you will see all reall parvendeha.

2 ANONYMOUS:

It's funny how these days a one-minute video clip is shown as proof of some deep convoluted conspiratorial relationship. This video features Ali Daei along with three other great IRANIAN SPORTSMEN: Hadi Saei - Rezazadeh- Alireza Heydari. Ali Daei has been a God in his own right (despite differences I have with his team melli picks). He doesn't need to be tight with the regime to hold the power he has. Before he became a household name, he was just a guy from a super conservative family who loved the sport of football and still does. I thought the days of "parvande-saazi" were over? Are we starting up a list of people now that we'll be ostracizing in the next regime? If so, put me up for a party of two :) Window-view would be nice, thanks.

They won The World Respect Cup

Nobody can take away what Team Melli did that day from them forever.They were the WINNER of that match. They showed UNITY for the first time ever. Other players that did not wore the Green Band, also showed Respect for their teammates, rather than do the usaul "taking sides". They won "THE EVER RESPECT" of freedom lovers all over the world. DAM-E-HAMASHOON GARM.

A Few Good Men!

Proud of you!

Gooooooooooal Gooooooooooooooa! Goooooooooooooooallllllllllll!

Had they chosen blue instead of green to emphasize the importance of water in Iran (khoshk) they still Could have been kicking ball with their balls while still playing acrobatic "kaleh Mallagh" on their steddy and generous payroll platform ....

So proud of them

Their "balls" is bigger than Khaamene'ee and Ahmadi Nejad's hearts and brains put together!

Way to go guys!  

Assal-B

You know Ali Daei personally, good to know who you are!

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWlYPRyubRw&feature...

There is more of it, I'll be glad to post it for you.

thanks for the memories

Kariami , Vahid and Mehdi are near the end of their careers. I would love the see them spent their final years at MLS (Galaxy, San Jose)

I feel very bad for Kaabi, he is a young player. He is an Arab Iranian background. I do not blame him if moves to and Arab country and Join their national team.

Team Melli's Golden years are behind them. we are entering F$%^ing Khomeini's 1980s hell again.

When things quiet down,

When things quiet down, they'll exit the country and continue their sport, inshalla.

Would like to know what happened to Nekounam and Shojaei....they will get to go back to Spain, right? I mean, Nekounam has important transfer negotiations in the works; I'd hate for a wrench to be thrown in those plans.

While I agree that these guys are heroes for making the statement they did, I don't think people like anonymous should be able to get away with comments baselessly linking Ali Daei to Khamenei. I personally know Ali Daei and it's ridiculous of you to try to link the two in order to make something out of nothing and have something interesting to write about.

These guys all did their part. Those who didn't were probably worried they would lose their jobs and most of those guys aren't exactly millionaires, so I understand why they didn't make a stand. It is a personal choice that was made and those who made their choice will live by its consequences. I worry about our more hotheaded team members, especially Hashemian, who has never learned to deal with the government/politics side of the game and who has always been a strong voice against it. I hope he just gets back to Germany and away from it all as soon as possible.

their act meant more to Iranians

then if they had qualified for the World cup

Mehrdad

Players

best of luck to them and i wish them the best!!!!

Heroes

We love our Heroes. They are true Iranians and we will never forget their heroical act. If Ali Daie was the coach for sure he would never let the guys show their support for Iranian people, most probably he would hire some IRI thugs to beat them or even kill them. Daei was and still is the right hand of Khamaneie(Dassteh raasthe choolaghe khamenie)

Bacheha motchakereem

I am proud of them.

تنها کار درستی‌ که این بازیگران کرده اند

خوب میدونیم که تیم ملی‌ بازیش درجه سومی‌ هست.
اعتراض این بازیگران تنها حرکت درستشون در این زمان بوده.
باریکلا بازیگرهای سبز پوش.

//www.irannostalgia.com

irannostalgia.com